Bill Crawford: Dances of the sugar plum politicians

December 20, 2010 11:36:00 AM

Ho, ho, ho.

No, no, that''s not Santa Claus.

Those are chuckles at the spectacle of sugar plum politicians as they dance around potent issues.

The Washington Post featured the new dance of our own Senator Roger Wicker last week. He had put 223 earmarks worth $415.5 million into the Senate''s omnibus spending bill, then twirled around and helped kill the bill at the last minute. He was for it, but now he''s against it, wanting to "change the way business is done in Washington."

Ironically, this resulted in a story in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal about the bill''s demise right after a story ran in the Starkville Dispatch quoting Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum saying "we''re hoping this will pass." A number of the earmarks Wicker, along with Senator Thad Cochran, had sponsored would have gone to Mississippi State.

Of course the Senator''s gyrations were nothing compared to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell''s. He had helped fashion the spending bill, put in 42 earmarks of his own for $86 million, lined up enough Republican votes to pass it, then suddenly quick-stepped over to the anti-earmark side.

Not all the dancing went on in Washington, though. Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant did a little pre-election jig of his own.

Pretty much in step with Governor Haley Barbour''s budget proposals over the past seven years, the soon-to-be gubernatorial candidate spun away from the Governor''s proposed 2012 spending cuts and partnered with the House''s more sugary budget approach.

"As I have said before, the magnitude of these budget challenges are real and with the loss of over $700 million in federal stimulus funds, we must be conservative with our appropriations to state agencies," said Bryant. "This is why we cut $64 million in travel, equipment costs and unfilled positions."

If those numbers don''t seem to add up, well, they don''t. The legislative budget recommendations that Bryant and House Speaker Billy McCoy hustled through won''t fully fund state government. A glaring example is the failure to provide for state bond principal and interest payments. Their recommendation is to "level fund" this line item, even though the Legislature authorized issuance of millions of dollars in new bonds this year. Increased payments of about $40 million will have to be made or the State could face default.

While Barbour''s budget laid out specific recommendations for cuts, the Bryant/McCoy plan avoids specific recommendations. However, there are 17 footnotes that imply much strenuous footwork remains to be done.

This Christmas ballet is a prelude to election-year hoedowns where nimble legislators want to captivate you with sugar plums and an ascetic posture, not so much the soundness of their decisions.

Ho, ho, ho.

Bill Crawford, a former legislator, lives in Meridian. His e-mail address is crawfolk@att.net.

Reader Comments

hope commented at 1/2/2011 7:54:00 PM:

These Republican politicians are nothing more than a propaganda machine. To determine that, all you have to do is watch Fox news. They got elected by brain washing people into voting for them. They criticize the stimulus to the peoples face at the same time they are holding their hands behind their backs to get a fist full of dollars for their constituents. They will figure out a way to get the pork even if they have to ask the traders on Wall Street to help them. They are like the legendary (R) Phil Gramm, who says he carried home so much pork that he was afraid he might get trichinosis, who now works for UBS bank in Switzerland where he gets his friends to put their money so they won't have to pay taxes here in the states.